Mixing Audio, 3rd Edition

25Distortion

Background

Mixing is a dynamic art. Mixing trends change through the years, and throughout past decades the extent to which and the way we use different tools has changed as well. There is little argument that distortion is the tool that has gained the most popularity in recent years. Distortion, in that specific mixing context, is not exactly the screaming pedal we use with guitars, but the more subtle harmonic distortion, in its various forms.

There are two main reasons why distortion has become so widely used. First, pop mixes nowadays tend to be more aggressive. This applies to both the analog and digital domains, where distortion is added to various degrees depending on the production. Strictly speaking, the use of distortion ...